League of Voters cannot negotiate with authorities

Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, January 19 (Itar-Tass) — The League of Voters cannot negotiate with the authorities, believes one of its founders, Dmitry Oreshkin. He made this statement to Itar-Tass, commenting on Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s words about his readiness for dialogue with the opposition, and with the League of Voters, in particular.

“Nobody authorised the League of Voters to hold negotiations,” Oreshkin said, although he does not refuse from the meeting. “It is possible to meet and talk, but this cannot be called negotiations. Our position is simple - obey the laws, conduct fair elections,” said Oreshkin. However, he noted that “a politician who intends to win elections, should himself go to the voters, to seek their support, but to take offence at the voters because they do not come to politics - it's somewhat exotic.” This was Oreshkin’s reaction to the words of the prime minister who noted that some members of the League of Voters have been repeatedly invited by him, but shied away from contact.

The League has a total of 16 founders. They are those who had been assessed as the most esteemed speakers by Internet users ahead of the December 24 rally. The list is topped by writer Boris Akunin, journalist Leonid Parfenov, and rock singer Yuri Shevchuk. Along with these three, the League founders include journalists Sergei Parkhomenko, Tatiana Lazareva, and Olga Romanova, writers Dmitry Bykov and Lyudmila Ulitskaya, bloggers Rustem Adagamov and Ilya Varlamov, leader of the Society of Blue Buckets Petr Shkumatov, political scientist Dmitry Oreshkin, and physician Yelizaveta Glinka (Doctor Liza). Support to the organization also came from former finance minister Alexei Kudrin, according to his Twitter page.

The League’s immediate plans include the organization of another mass march in Moscow on February 4. “It will be clear whether it will be authorized or not on January 20,” Parfenov said. Long-terms plans include to train observers, to publish lists of election commissions, including the so-called black list of those election commissions’ members who are said to be involved in vote rigging during the parliamentary elections, and to organize festivals and shows. The organization, according to co-founder Georgy Vasilyev, has no legal seat and plans to use private and charity funds to sponsor its actions. According to the League’s founders, it is a long-term project to last much longer than the presidential elections of March 4.